ELEGY. BY WILLIAM SHENSTONE, ESQ. HE ARRIVES AT HIS RETIREMENT IN THE For rural virtues, and for native skies, Now hear the fountains bubbling round my cell. O may that Genius, which fecures my reft, Far from these paths, ye faithlefs friends, depart! Fly my plain board, abhor my hoftile name! 10 Hence! the faint verfe that flows not from the heart, But mourns, in labour'd ftrains, the price of fame! O lov'd fimplicity! be thine the prize! Affiduous art correct her page in vain! His be the palm who, guiltless of disguise, 15 Contemns the pow'r, the dull resource to feign! * Born 1714; dyed 1763. Still may the mourner, lavish of his tears Soft as the line of love-fick Hammond flows, 'Twas his fond heart effus'd the melting theme; Ah! never could Aonia's hill difclofe So fair a fountain, or fo lov'd a fiream. Ye lovelefs bards! intent with artful pains plains Survey Camilla's charms, and grow fincere. 25 But thou, my friend! while in thy youthful foul Love's gentle tyrant feats his aweful throne, 30 While from thy bofom-let not art controul The ready pen, that makes his edicts known. Pleafing, when youth is long expir'd, to trace The forms our pencil, or our pen defign'd! "Such was our youthful air, and shape, and face! "Such the foft image of our youthful mind! Soft whilft we fleep beneath the rural bow'rs, We wake to wintry fcenes of chill decay! 40 Curfe the fad fortune that detains thy fair; Praise the foft hours that gave thee to her arms; Paint thy proud fcorn of ev'ry vulgar care, When hope exalts thee, or when doubt alarms. Where with none thou haft worn the day, 45 Near fount or ftream, in meditation, rove; If in the grove none lov'd to stray, The faithful Muse shall meet thee in the grove. THE SCHOOL-MISTRESS. IN IMITATION OF SPENSER. BY THE SAME. "Auditæ voces, vagitus & ingens, Infantumque anima fentes in limine primo." VIRG. ADVERTISEMENT. What particulars in Spenser were imagined most proper for the Author's imitation on this occafion, are his language, his fimplicity, his manner of defcription, and a peculiar tenderness of fentiment remarkable throughout his works. AH me! full forely is my heart forlorn, To think how modeft worth neglected lies; While partial fame doth with her blasts adorn Such deeds alone, as pride and pomp disguise; Deeds of ill fort, and mifchievous emprize : Lend me thy clarion, goddess! let me try To found the praise of merit, ere it dies ; Such as I oft have chaunced to espy, Loft in the dreary fhades of dull obfcurity. 10 In ev'ry village mark'd with little spire, For unkempt hair, or task unconn'd, are forely fhent. And all in fight doth rife a birchen tree, ; 25 low And as they look'd they found their horror grew, And shap'd it into rods, and tingled at the view. So have I feen (who has not, may conceive,) A lifeless phantom near a garden plac'd ; So doth it wanton birds of peace bereave, 30 Of fport, of fong, of pleasure, of repaft; They start, they ftare, they wheel, they look aghaft ; Sad fervitude! fuch comfortless annoy May no bold Briton's riper age e'er taste! 35 Near to this dome is found a patch so green, Where fits the dame, difguis'd in look profound, And eyes her fairy throng, and turns her wheel around. Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow, 45 And in her hand, for fcepter, she does wield 50 Tway birchen sprays; with anxious fear entwin'd, With dark diftruft, and fad repentance fill'd; |